Relocating Companies

[MOM]

JNK TRANSPORT SERVICES (PRETORIA)

Hi there,

Someone recommended the above company. Has anyone else used them for your move?

We will most likely go with Magna, I am just doing a last minute "check" , aparently JNK had excellent pricing.

I will keep you posted.

XS

[chatterbug]

Hi MOM (sounds weird?)

This is not your son, BUT ....

I have not heard of them at all, I'd stick to the familiar ones with a good reputation?? Then again we moved 2,5 years ago, so they might be new and good for all I know!

c'bug

[Riekie]

I cannot recall coming across that name in my almost 3 years on emigration forums (phew - is it THAT long?!!!......) They might be all good, but if you don't have enough references (not from people who knows someone who works there, but from actual people who made use of their services) I would not risk it..... Sometimes you save a little just to loose a lot in the end.......

[MOM]

I cannot recall coming across that name in my almost 3 years on emigration forums (phew - is it THAT long?!!!......) They might be all good, but if you don't have enough references (not from people who knows someone who works there, but from actual people who made use of their services) I would not risk it..... Sometimes you save a little just to loose a lot in the end.......

Hi

Very professional, they do most of the relocations for the embasy in Pta, the only ISO certified moving co in SA etc... The pricing came in pretty much the same as Magna.

I decided to stick with Magna. I attended the seminar last year and they are a nice bunch.

Last minute jitters I guess!!

xs

[Bullet]

Hi Willem

We have recieved our container on monday .All our furniture and belonings was packed shiped and unpacked by CROWN and it was very well and proffesionaly done.I made sure that all camping fishing and quarinteen sensitive was spotless clean or fumigated.So Maruis and his team in Port Elizabeth well done and Belinda in Perth thank you for your help

AND did I mention there was only 1 cup broken

Best of luck Bullet

[Stuart and Jill]

Hi All

I have heard many good and bad stories about movers and the process of shipping your worldly possessions to the other side of the world.

Who would you recommend and why?

Who would you avoid?

Any help with advise, catches and snags, quarantined items, container costs and sizes and moving companies in general would be most appreciated.

Stuart

Edited December 21, 2006 by Stuart and Jill

[Pippa]

Dear Stuart,

Apologies, have posted this in the wrong section - posted it now in the settling in section.

I’ve noted that you posted the same post in 2 different sub-forums and you will therefore note that I’ve removed the duplicate post of “Good and Bad Movers, Who would you recommend and why?” from the Settling In sub-forum, as you only need to post a question once under the most suitable sub-forum.

I also moved the post to the Immigration General from Immigration Application, as the question is not related to you the application.

I trust that you will understand.

Bye, Pippa! X

[Springbok]

Hi All

I have heard many good and bad stories about movers and the process of shipping your worldly possessions to the other side of the world.

Who would you recommend and why?

Who would you avoid?

Any help with advise, catches and snags, quarantined items, container costs and sizes and moving companies in general would be most appreciated.

Stuart

Apologies, have posted this in the wrong section - posted it now in the settling in section.

Hi Stuart

I recently got a quote from Biddulphs - the guy who came to my house is Tony Howell, very friendly guy and more than 30 years in the business. Deals a lot with moving possessions to Australia and his own brother moved there in the 1970s. He told me quite a few interesting stories from a personal point of view. Gave me a very comprehensive information pack and I think the quote was very reasonable. I have yet to move, so cannot tell you anything about the move itself, yet.

Cheers

Charl

[Stuart and Jill]

I’ve noted that you posted the same post in 2 different sub-forums and you will therefore note that I’ve removed the duplicate post of “Good and Bad Movers, ... I also moved the post to the Immigration General from Immigration Application, as the question is not related to you the application.

Thanks Pippa, I realised once I had posted that it was in completely the wrong section. Thanks for sorting it out for me.

I recently got a quote from Biddulphs - the guy who came to my house is Tony Howell, very friendly guy and more than 30 years in the business.

Hi Charl

Thanks for the advise, do you perhaps have a telephone number for Tony?

[Mara]

Hi Stuart

When we moved 13 years ago, we used Magna International, they did a wonderful job, we were impressed!

I have a suggestion for you, if you look at the top right of the page you will see a search button. If you click on that and use your keywords, you would be amazed at how much info it will bring up for you! Good luck!

Mara

[Stuart and Jill]

Hi Mara

I remember now, 10 years or so ago when my mother moved to New Zealand she also used Magna - I will look them up.

Thanks for the recommendation

Stuart

[Pippa]

Hi Stuart,

I believe that Magna’s seminars are also very informative. Should you be interested in attending one of their seminars, click here to obtain more information on the dates and venues.

Good luck!

Bye, Pippa! X

[Stuart and Jill]

Thanks Pippa, that is fantastic!

I wish I'd known about this site a long time ago.

[hannesb]

We have had the worst possible service from Magna (which we chose partly based on advice form this forum). We did not send a full container, but had to share, and that seemed to be the problem. Magna did not seem really interested in such a relatively 'small' removal...There were several "mis-communications" between them and the company in Oz sponsoring our move, which delayed the move on the SA side, and now, almost 4 months later, we are still waiting. Apparently our move has been sitting on the docks in Sydney for a month now...We were hoping to have it here by Christmas. Oh well, it seems like Africa-time on both sides.

[Mara]

Hi Hannesb

Sharing a container appears to be full of pitfalls, I have heard that from many people who have used many different international movers. The first problem is that your goods will not leave South Africa until such time as the container is full. That could take a bit of time. Then when it arrives in Australia, you had better hope that Customs does not have a query about anything in the container, yours or anybody elses, because everything in the container is quarantined then, until the problem is sorted out to their satisfaction. Often the overseas shipper is actually not responsible for the mishap, it may well be something that was packed that they are unaware of and that is only found upon inspection by customs. I think what people sometimes forget is that there are many diseases found in Africa that have never been in Australia and because Australia is actually an island, they try their utmost to keep it out. I personally think it is crazy that they would quarantine a whole container, to me just the box they found it in would do, but that is not the way they operate. Just thought a bit of clarification may make some sense to people.

[Stuart and Jill]

Hi Hannesb

I am sorry to hear that your move was not a smooth one. I have also heard that partial containers can cause a problem. Like everything else in life there seems to be a bit of luck (for want of a better word) involved.

I hope that your problem is resolved early in the new year. Have a good 2007.

Stuart

[ottg]

Hi

What I have done is to prepare a complete list of household content. Then I submitted it to the 5 largest movers i.e Magna, Stuttafords, Buddulps etc and requested:

a. An initial qoutation with and without content insurance?

b. Size of container

c. Insurance

e. How busy are they?

f. Storage arrangements via the Clearing Agents in Aus

Some of them refused to give an initial qoute because of risks in incorrect volume estimates!

However, I believe that most of the largest movers are reputable. Therefore I did a selection based on speed of reply, eagerness to do business.

I then selected the mid-prized mover.

They were Stuttaford! The service was good!

[Yvonne]

We used British International Movers in Midrand. They sent someone out to give us a quote which was less than we expected. It was just a part load so we had to wait for the container to be filled. Waited 4 months but at a reasonable price we didn't mind.

[Guest colton]

This was one of my biggest concerns when we moved. I did alot of research on other's personal removal experiences. Eventually we decided to go with one of the bigger names in the business, we chose Stuttafords. Their quote was higher than some of the other big companies but I explained to them I would prefer to use their services but then they needed to match the other quotes, this they were happy to do to get my business and so I got a good price from a good company. The move went very well and nothing major went wrong. My container arrived 2 weeks after I landed, I requested they delay the container for a week in RSA which they did for no extra charge.

I had 3 minor breakages and 1 small box missing, Stuttafords in RSA was quick to send through the claim forms and we have one month to claim. They have been very helpful and efficient. I have heard lots of horror stories from people this side who used part containers, for the extra price I would rather pack it full and bring everything over, it is definitely expensive to start totally from scratch and much nicer to have your own familiar things around you. Maybe that is why we feel so comfortable here, it looks like home with all our own things, we felt a little unsettled in the begining living in a rented house with other peoples furniture and belongings, like we were only visiting.

I must add that I think the breakages occured when our container was repacked by quarantine, they unpack your whole container and repack it into another one. One of our computer boxes, with a zillion FRAGILE stickers on it, was repacked by quarantine into the bottom of the container under a couch and numerous other boxes, hence the breakages.

We bought 6 new surfboards and packed them in the container, they all arrived unmarked and in perfect condition, of the 4 we brought on the plane with us, 2 were damaged. Luckily the airline are going to have them repaired at their cost. The fragile stuff is much safer in the container.

Hope this helps someone.

C

[Stuart and Jill]

Eventually we decided to go with one of the bigger names in the business, we chose Stuttafords. Their quote was higher than some of the other big companies but I explained to them I would prefer to use their services but then they needed to match the other quotes, this they were happy to do to get my business and so I got a good price from a good company.

Thanks Colton, a very good idea indeed Something I am not too sure on is how to have your container stored for a few months on the other side. I foresee us renting for a few months. Do you have access to the contents of your container while your items are being stored?

[The Parsons Family]

We chose to go with Allied pickfords as we have moved internationally with them before.

We chose to share a container and as a result our "stuff" has yet to leave SA. Our furniture etc. was packed on the 3rd of November. We are actually quite happy our things aren't here yet as we are renting a fully furnished place and wouldn't know where to put all of it.

We were impressed with Deon from Allied Pickfords as he was professionl and his response time was impressive.

Elliott also seemed quite organised even though they were a bit pricey.

Stuttafords left alot to be desired as they came out to see us and we were told we would have their quote in 48 hours (LOL) They eventually e-mailed the quote on the day we had told them we wanted to move, which was 6 weeks after they saw us.

Good Luck

Gaille

[Stuart and Jill]

We are actually quite happy our things aren't here yet as we are renting a fully furnished place and wouldn't know where to put all of it.

Hi Gaille, Thanks for the feedback. It sounds as if you are doing a very similar thing to what we want to do. Could you provide me with a rough monthly benchmark for the renting of a fully furnished house/apartment - 3+ bedrooms? Where abouts are you renting?

Regards

Stuart

[The Parsons Family]

We are renting a two bedroom unit in Wembley, Perth. We are paying $250 a week. We chose to go the cheaper route of renting small so we can suss out where we want to rent when our babies (dogs) get here. We have been looking at renting a house in a better suburb and the rental ranges from $300 - $1000. We have seen a home we would buy never mind rent , now we just have to hope it comes back onto the rental market at the end of May, it costs $320 a week. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms (bit of a luxury in Oz), 3 living rooms and a good size garden.

Keep checking the reiwa.com.au and realestate.com.au sites, most real estate agencies advertise on them. This will give you a good idea on the average price. Reiwa has just udated their site to include oodles on the property market - it kept me busy for a while.

Gaille

[Stuart and Jill]

Keep checking the reiwa.com.au and realestate.com.au sites, most real estate agencies advertise on them. This will give you a good idea on the average price. Reiwa has just udated their site to include oodles on the property market - it kept me busy for a while.

Gaille

Excellent, thanks Gaille - I'll have a look at the sites.

[DesV]

I attended the Magna talk which is held regularly and very imformative, I used Magna as well and they were outstanding with no breakages and all went 100% smoothly from start to finish, incidently our international move from Jhb to Sydney cost less than our move from Sydney to Kalgoorlie ( across Australia) 1 year later.

Reccomendations dont share a container, it is going to be problamatic and has to be packed and repacked etc if you are looking for quotes then ask companies to base the quote on a container to compare prices etc. if you are on a tight budget then you can consider doing it yourself, but you will need to do a lot of research, My brother did it himself and it worked out half price was a lot of organising and hassle but he now also has his very own container in his back garden which makes an ideal garden shed.

With any mover you get good and bad stories the bottom line is that its all dependant on he person who does the packing etc all companies strive to do their best as they want repeat business and recomendations.

It is worth checking on insurance as this is a minefield, often companies cover you for total loss as that is what they are insured for but wont tell you and then get you to pay additional anyway and unless you are shipping expensive irreplaceable antiques then insurance for breakages is normally more than what you would get back if it broke.

good luck